1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a droplet discharge apparatus, a color filter manufacturing apparatus, a color filter and a method of manufacture thereof, a liquid crystal apparatus, and an electronic apparatus.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-135875, filed May 14, 2003, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, along with developments in an electronic apparatus such as computer displays and large-scale televisions, there is increasing use of a liquid crystal display apparatus, particularly a color liquid crystal display apparatus. This type of liquid crystal display apparatus usually uses a color filter to color the display image. One type of color filter discharges a predetermined pattern of ink in red (R), green (G), and blue (B) on a substrate of, for example, glass, and forms a colored layer by drying the ink on the substrate. An inkjet droplet discharge apparatus, for example, is used to discharge the ink onto the substrate.
When using an inkjet droplet discharge apparatus, a predetermined amount of ink is discharged by dispensing from the inkjet head to the glass substrate. In this case, it is possible to use an apparatus wherein the inkjet head is secured and the glass substrate is mounted on an XYθ stage, which can move in for example two intersecting directions (X direction, Y direction) and can rotate around a given axis of rotation. In this type of apparatus, after positioning the glass substrate in a predetermined position with respect to the inkjet head by driving the XYθ stage, ink is discharged from the inkjet head while scanning the glass substrate in the X direction and Y direction, so that the ink is discharged at predetermined positions on the glass substrate.
One example of a color filter manufacturing apparatus that uses this type of droplet discharge apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-33614. The color filter manufacturing apparatus disclosed in this document is equipped with three coloring apparatuses (droplet discharge apparatuses), each of which can draw three colored layers of R, G, and B; the coloring apparatuses are arranged at the side of a main carrying line that carries a substrate to be processed from a first step to a last step. Furthermore, between the coloring apparatuses and the main carrying line are provided supply conveyors, which supply an uncolored glass substrate to each coloring apparatus, and discharge conveyors, which discharge a glass substrate that has been colored from each coloring apparatus; robots for delivering the glass substrates between the conveyors are provided between the main carrying line and the supply conveyors and the discharge conveyors.
However, the color filter manufacturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-33614 has problems such as the following.
The color filter manufacturing apparatus described above has coloring apparatuses at the side of the main carrying line, performs drawing while delivering the glass substrate, carried from the first step side to the last step side, from the main carrying line into each of the coloring apparatuses, and returns it to the main carrying line after drawing. Consequently, only one glass substrate can be held in each coloring apparatus at the time of drawing, and places are required for returning the glass substrates to the main carrying line after drawing. Therefore, while drawing is being carried out in each coloring apparatus, pre-drawing glass substrates must standby in a position that does not interfere with the post-drawing glass substrates, and an operation to lead the pre-drawing glass substrates into the coloring apparatuses begins when the post-drawing glass substrates have returned to the main carrying line. As a result, this color filter manufacturing apparatus requires a lengthy tact time to process one glass substrate, and its productivity is poor.
Due to this fundamental defect, three coloring apparatuses are provided and arranged in parallel to perform drawing, so as to remedy the above defect. However, since the three coloring apparatuses are arranged at the side of the main carrying line, this apparatus occupies an extremely large space on the color filter production line, and obstructs the apparatus layout and the like of the production line. The more the number of coloring apparatuses is increased in an attempt to raise the processing efficiency, the more the space occupied inevitably increases, making the problem worse. Recently, thirty-inch to sixty-inch large-scale liquid crystal televisions are becoming available in commercial markets, making this problem even more noticeable in large-scale color filter manufacturing apparatuses that are adapted for such televisions.
Furthermore, in the apparatus described above, the glass substrate carrying directions of the main carrying line, and the carrying line that links the main carrying line to each coloring apparatus, differ by 90°, making it necessary to provide various types of carrying apparatuses such as supply conveyors, removal conveyors, robots, and the like, between the main carrying line and the coloring apparatuses. As a consequence, the apparatus constitution becomes complex, as do the drive controls for these carrying apparatuses. Moreover, the pre-drawing glass substrates on the main carrying line are mixed with the post-drawing glass substrates as they flow, requiring controls to separate them.
In recent years, in addition to color filters, consideration is being given to interconnection formation technology, or apparatus formation technology for organic EL (electro-luminescence) elements and the like that use an inkjet system droplet discharge apparatus. The above explanation describes the conventional technology and problematic points of an example of a color filter manufacturing apparatus, but these problematic points also apply to such apparatus formation technology and interconnection formation technology; hence there is a desire to realize a manufacturing apparatus (that is, a droplet discharge apparatus having the manufacturing apparatus) having superior productivity.
This invention has been realized in order to solve the problems mentioned above, and aims to provide a droplet discharge apparatus that is suitable for a production line, has superior productivity and a comparatively simple apparatus constitution, and does not waste occupied space, and also aims to provide a color filter manufacturing apparatus using the droplet discharge apparatus, a color filter, and a method of manufacturing the color filter.